Intent

My approach to my artwork is simple: I want to create an interesting piece, whatever it happens to be. I intend to involve the viewer. The piece, whether it is a painting, a drawing, or a print, needs to provide the viewer with something different from what is usually seen.

In most of my work I actively avoid providing a focal point. In fact I try to distract from any such point by using color and shapes that attract the eye just long enough to see that there is yet another distraction. Thus the viewer's eye wanders around the piece searching for a familiar resting spot. In most cases they won't find one.

In the process I may use colors that aren't compatible; they may clash under ordinary conditions. But I use other colors to mitigate so they don't appear to clash. Instead they support each other in creating the illusion I am after. That illusion is that the viewer is on the verge of finding a hidden image or message of the piece.

Artist's studio at Riverviews Artspace in Lynchburg. Does Target Tell Wal*Mart is underway on the easel. In the background the artist relaxes beneath Visions of Johanna.

Sometimes there may actually be an image or a message. When that is the case, I try to disguise the contents just enough that the viewer isn't sure at first of what he or she is seeing. Often it requires a double-take to decipher the image.

Lastly I sometimes employ well-known optical tricks to create illusions. Proximity, assimilation, simultaneous contrast and negative-positive principles are important to me in bringing about the final image.

Method

I do not mix colors. I paint directly from the tube or jar, using strictly commercial colors. Sometimes this restricts what I can do, but I just work around that. I do not try to achieve perfection. A certain amount of "painterly" effect is acceptable. The edges are hand-painted, not masked. My work is obviously produced by a person, rather than a machine. I have seen other artists who work within the same genre who mask their edges to insure crispness. That is not important to me.

Some colors don't lie smoothly when applied to canvas. Since I paint directly from the container, I do not use additives to create opacity or any other effect. Sometimes it is possible to see the pencil-marks that are the basic structure of my paintings. That doesn't bother me much. I sometimes apply a second coat of paint to the ones that particularly do bother me. My work is designed to be seen from a small distance, rather than closely examined.

Most of my work involves patterns. Sometimes I will use a familiar theme, then try to spin it by using my own approach to the coloration. Other times I "invent" patterns based on an idea or mental image I have. Then the colors are precisely selected to create an image or deception.

My favorite patterns are somewhat out of my control. I create "rules" which are then used randomly to determine the final outcome. The rules range from simple to very complex, depending upon what I am after in a given piece. These images always begin with a grid, usually a square one. Then the rules are applied. These rules determine whether the squares formed by the grid are further divided, whether a shape is located at the grid intersections, and the size of such a shape.

This corner of the artist's studio is a favorite gathering spot for friends and others during Lynchburg's traditional First Fridays, held the first Friday of each month, from 6:00 until 8:00 pm. Behind the sofa hang Memories of a Dream and Dominant Attraction. On the brick wall one of the IBM Suite prints is displayed. On the floor beside the sofa stands another print from the IBM Suite.

Then I select my palette of colors for the piece and assign each color a number. Randomness then determines the application of color to each shape on the piece. Rules govern how colors dominate when they overlap. This coloration determines the final look of the work and is always a surprise to me. I hope from the onset that my "rules" will produce a pleasing and interesting piece, but the exact outcome is always out of my control.

The randomness is ensured through the use of random-selection tables designed specifically for the individual piece and created by a random-number generator on the Internet. Before the Internet I used random-selection tables created for me by friends who had access to large computers, or even by dice or coin tossing.

Mediums

My preferred medium is acrylics on stretched canvas. A variation on this involves cutting shapes from canvas and gluing these to stretched canvas prior to painting. When I use the method, I determine the shapes and where they are applied by randomness.

Sometimes I use Artist's Hardboard as a support for various objects which are glued to the surface before painting. The location of these objects may determined visually or by randomness.

In the past I was an active serigrapher and produced many pieces using hand-cut stencils. I even produced prints for other artists who either didn't want to or couldn't produce their own. This doesn't interest me now. The chemicals required for screen-printing are a little daunting.

Even though I am a fairly proficient computer user, I really don't have an interest in producing computer generated graphics,but I won't rule out this as a possible future medium.